A New Blog

It's been forever since I've blogged.  So long, in fact, that too many things have changed to make going back to my old blog practical.  But recently, Jon mentioned that he had enjoyed reading my blog, that he missed my posts, and that I should start blogging again.

So, I'm beginning a new blog, one that I hope will be more cohesive than the last.

When you think about what to blog about, one of the most common pieces of advice you receive is to identify what you're most passionate about.  For me, the things I'm most passionate about are my faith and my family.  I love being a Catholic Christian.  Raised Southern Baptist, I was received into the Catholic Church on Easter 2013, and I enjoy continuing to learn more about the richness of the faith, and explaining it to those who don't understand it, as once I didn't.  I'm also passionate about being a mother and homemaker, and (eventual) wife.  I'm passionate about loving and raising my children (all 12 that comprise our blended family), and making a functional, perhaps even beautiful, home for them and my partner and I.

"Imperfect" is not a word in the title of this blog to be overlooked.  I am imperfect.  I own that.  I am an imperfect Catholic, an imperfect homemaker, and an all-around imperfect person.  I don't intend this blog to be a place where I come to gloss over my imperfections and try to present myself as all shiny and spotless.  Hopefully, it will be inspiring at the end of the day, but it will also be real.  Most of my readers are likely to be friends and family who know better anyway. :)

I am a recovering slob.  People ask me how I manage to keep up with a family this size.  I can only shrug my shoulders, and say that I have no idea, because I'm keeping up with my super-sized family a lot better than I kept up with my smaller family.  It seems that the larger my family has gotten, the better I have gotten, in small increments, at keeping up with things.  I am not perfect, but I don't figure I ever will be as long as there are still kids at home. :)  My home is a mess at least part of each day.  It's usually an utter wreck by the end of the weekend, as I prefer to spend my weekends with my family rather than cleaning the house every minute.  The thought of the impending summer break makes me somewhat nervous.  See, last summer, I didn't care as much as I do now about keeping our home neat.  So I've never tried to keep it at this level with 10 kids home all day.  The fact that it gets trashed pretty much every weekend doesn't leave me feeling optimistic.

I'm also a terribly imperfect Catholic. (I know, I know, what honest Catholic isn't?)  You may have noticed that I mention, and allude to living with, a man, and that I don't call him my husband, but rather my partner.  For anyone who may be in doubt, this is NOT condoned by the tenets of my faith.  But we have a long road ahead of us before we're able to be married (just beginning the annulment process), and it's terribly impractical (perhaps even impossible) for us to separate our family into two separate homes.  So, for now, this is where we are.  Attempting to avoid mortal sin, while living in the near occasion of it.  A few children who like to share our bed (Yes our bed. You find me my own bed in a 3 bedroom house shared by 11-12 people, depending on the day.) help to keep us honest.

That's probably enough for now.  I'm running the risk of rambling on and on, and I really can't focus all that well today.  I think my next post may be titled "I Remember Why I Don't Blog."